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Neil Richard Gaiman (born November 10, 1960 in Portchester, England) is the author of numerous science
fiction and fantasy works, including many comic books. As of 2002, he lives near Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.
Biography
After being rejected many times by publishers, Gaiman pursued journalism as a means to learn about the world and make
connections that he hoped would later assist him in getting published. During this time he wrote his first book, a now
sought-after throwaway biography of the band Duran Duran, and a large number
of articles for Knave
magazine. In the late 1980s he wrote Don't Panic: The Official Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
Companion in what he calls a "classic English humorist" style; in his opinion the book is what led to his collaboration
with Terry Pratchett on the comic novel Good Omens, about an impending apocalypse. [1]
After forming a friendship with famed comic book scribe Alan Moore, Gaiman
started writing comics. He wrote two British graphic novels with his favorite collaborator and long time friend Dave McKean: Violent
Cases and Signal to Noise. Afterwards, and he
landed a job with DC Comics, which resulted in the series Black Orchid.
He has written a multitude of comics for several publishers, but his best-known work is the comics series The Sandman, which chronicles
the adventures of Morpheus, the
personification of Dream. (See Endless). The series started a small cultural sensation, gathering a devout following and making
comic books respectable to many new audiences. The series began in 1988 and ended in
1996 when Gaiman simply announced that the story he began in the first issue had run its
natural course. All 75 issues of the regular series have been collected into 10 volumes that are still in print and selling
well.
In 1991, Gaiman published The Books of Magic, a four-part mini-series that provided a tour of the mythological and magical
parts of the DC Universe through a frame story about an English teenager who
discovers that he has a destiny as the world's greatest wizard. The miniseries was popular, and spun off an ongoing series, also
called The Books of Magic, written by John Ney Reiber. Many people have noted similarities between series protagonist Tim Hunter and the later
and more famous Harry Potter; when referring to this similarity, Gaiman
indicates that the young man as sorcerer has precedent in literature.
Gaiman also writes songs, poems and novels, and wrote the BBC dark fantasy television series Neverwhere, which he later adapted into a novel. In addition, he wrote the English language script to the
anime movie Princess
Mononoke.
Gaiman is a Board Member as well as an active supporter of the Comic Book
Legal Defense Fund, and he regularly participates in fundraisers for the group including creating materials such as the
original Snow, Glass, Apples (the CBLDF owns the
copyright).
Shortly before the publication of American Gods, Gaiman began to write a weblog, which now resides on his official site. Parts of it were extracted for publication in the New England
Science Fiction Association Press collection of Gaiman miscellany, Adventures
in the Dream Trade.
Gaiman received a World Fantasy Award for short fiction in 1991 for the Sandman issue, A Midsummer Night's Dream (see
Dream Country). He received the 2002 Hugo Award for outstanding novel for American Gods, which also won the 2002 Nebula Award. In 2003 Coraline won the best novella award.
Gaiman forged an intense friendship with singer Tori Amos in the early
nineties, far before she met stardom. As such he is constantly mentioned (often rather cryptically) in at least one of her songs
on each of her albums. He also wrote the forewords to several of her tour programs as well as short stories to accompany her
album "Strange Little Girls." (They appeared in the album booklet.) Some of her lyrical mentions: "If you need me, me and Neil'll
be hangin' out with the dream king/Neil said hi, by the way" ("Tear In Your Hand," 1992); "Where's Neil when you need him?"
("Space Dog," 1994); "Will you find me if Neil makes me a tree?" ("Horses," 1996)...Gaiman based a character of a talking Tree on
Amos; "Where are the Velvets?" ("Hotel," 1998...The Velvets are vampire-like characters from Gaiman's novel "Neverwhere";) "Get
me Neil on the line, have him read Snow, Glass, Apples" ("Carbon," 2002).
Gaiman is also a friend of J. Michael Straczynski,
creator of the television series Babylon 5. As such there is a species of aliens
on that series called the Gaim; their heads closely resemble the mask worn by Gaiman's Sandman character. While perhaps a nice
unintentional homage, Straczynski has stated the masks were based more on World War gas masks than the King of Dreams. Still,
Gaiman wrote the season 5 episode "Day of the
Dead," the only writer other than Straczynski to enter the Babylon 5 universe in its final three seasons..
Bibliography
Comics & Graphic Novels
- Violent Cases (Titan Books, 1987) (with Dave McKean)
- Black Orchid #1-3 (DC Comics, 1988) (with Dave McKean)
- The Sandman
#1-75 (DC Comics/Vertigo, 1989-1996) (with various
artists)
- Miracleman #17-24 (Eclipse Comics, 1990-1993) (with
various artists)
- Books of Magic #1-4 (DC Comics, 1991) (with various
artists)
- Signal to Noise (VG Graphics/Dark Horse Comics, 1992) (with Dave McKean)
- Death: The High Cost of
Living #1-3 (Vertigo, 1993) (with Chris Bachalo)
- The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch (Vertigo,
1994) (with Dave McKean)
- The Last
Temptation (Marvel Comics, 1994) (with Michael Zulli)
- storyline based on Alice Cooper's album The Last Temptation,
co-plotted and written by Mr Gaiman and Alice Cooper
- Angela #1-3 (Image Comics, 1995) (with Todd McFarlane)
- Death: The Time Of Your Life #1-3 ( Vertigo, 1996) (with Chris Bachalo)
- Neil Gaiman's Midnight Days (Vertigo, 1999) (collection of early work with various
artists)
- Harlequin
Valentine (Dark
Horse Books, 2001) (with John
Bolton)
- Murder
Mysteries (Dark Horse Books, 2002) (adapted by P. Craig Russell)
- 1602 #1-8 (Marvel Comics, 2003) (with Andy Kubert)
- Endless Nights
(Vertigo, 2003) (with various artists)
Prose
(includes works consisting of illustrated text as opposed to comic-book form)
- Ghastly Beyond Belief: The Science
Fiction and Fantasy Book of Quotations (1985) (with Kim Newman, a
collection of book/movie quotes)
- Don't Panic: The Official Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
Companion (1987) (A guide to Douglas Adams' 'trilogy')
- Good Omens (1990) (with Terry Pratchett)
- Now we are
Sick (1991) (co-editor, with Stephen Jones)
- Angels and Visitations (1993) (a
collection of short stories)
- Snow, Glass, Apples (1994) (short story
illustrated by Charles Vess)
- About Cats and
Dogs (1997) (two short stories)
- Neverwhere (1996, 1997 US)
- Smoke And Mirrors (1998) (a collection of short
stories)
- The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish (1998) (a children's book
illustrated by Dave McKean)
- Stardust (1998, 2000) (illustrated by Charles
Vess)
- The Sandman: The
Dream Hunters (Vertigo, 1999) (with Yoshitaka Amano)
- American Gods (2001)
- Murder
Mysteries (Biting Dog Press) (2001) (Limited edition script for the voice play with illustrations by George Walker)
- Adventures in the Dream Trade (2002) (a miscellany)
- Snow, Glass, Apples (Biting Dog Press)
(2002) (Limited edition script for the voice play with illustrations by George Walker)
- A Walking Tour of the
Shambles (2002) (with Gene Wolfe)
- Coraline (2002) (a children's book, US ed illustrated by Dave
McKean)
- The
Wolves in the Walls (2003) (illustrated by Dave McKean)
- Little Lit: It Was a Dark and Silly Night (2003) (with Gahan Wilson), compilation of stories by
various writers and artists, edited by Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly
Audio
- Warning Contains Language (1995) (stories read by Gaiman, music by McKean)
- Signal to Noise (2000) (audio drama with full cast and
music)
- American Gods (2002) (read by George Guidall)
- Coraline (2002) (US ed. read by Gaiman, UK ed. by Dawn French)
- Two Plays for
Voices (2002) (Snow, Glass, Apples and Murder Mysteries with full cast & music)
- Telling Tales
(2003) (Neil tells us stories: A Writer's Prayer; Harlequin Valentine; Boys and Girls Together; The Wedding Present, and In The
End. Percussion by Robin Adnan Anders)
- Mr Gaiman's song-writing and collaboration is also featured on:
- Alice Cooper's The Last Temptation
- The Flash Girls' The Return of Pansy Smith & Violet
Jones, Maurice & I and Play Each Morning Wild Queen
- Folk UnderGround's Buried Things
External links
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